Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[med6753]

When I order from Mouser now, the items are shipped from the USA even though they have office in High Wycombe, so unless they start stocking over here, thats going to get progressively worse for a while.

I have a better name for "brexit"........"broke it". 

Gonna be 32 degrees C + here for the next few days. I hate the heat. Any outside activity early then stay inside with the A/C. Damn the electric bill. 

Weird... We just had a week of 30°C+ weather, with heat index ~40°C. Been waking up feeling like I lost a alligator-fucking contest every morning... 

Today's the first day of supposedly 10° cooler weather. I feel semi-human for a change; not TOTALLY like a grumpy ol' dwagon. 

mnem

In this sort of weather my A/C runs more or less continuously on low. When I go to bed I'll put it on 2 hours timer. It will stay comfortable for the remainder of the night. I usually wake up before dawn so if I put it on at that time on low it will keep this place comfortable all day. If I wait until after the sun comes up then I have to put on blast mode to catch up which obviously consumes a LOT more power.

[TERRA Operative]

   Got delivery of my latest batch of goodies. 

What I thought was a TM500 'toolbox' was actually a completely unused prototyping module, I'm not sure I really want to use it though, it seems special somehow....
I wonder how hard it would be to convince a Chinese PCB house to make some new PCB's for a reasonable cost seeing as there are so many holes to drill. 

Also, the DC503A Frequency Counter module seems to have had a home-made Option 01 OCXO upgrade installed, which is nice, although I might see if I can eliminate that ebay voltage converter module to cut down on noise... I have the benefit of schematics and data sheet for this OCXO, so I might be able to hook it directly to the Option 01 PCB pads if I'm lucky, further investigation is warranted.

I also just won an auction for a 15pF Tek Input RC Normalizer (067-0537-00). I made one myself earlier (youtube.com/watch?v=S1fHyzJifiQ), so it'll be interesting to see how the pro's do it. 

[EDIT] Why can't this damn forum software leave things as hyperlinks instead of always expanding and embedding links to video and images?!?!   

It only does that with SOME videos; pictures can be left as links or just thumbs at the bottom of a post.

That TM500 module is really neat... shouldn't be hard at all to get the business end made up and truncate it just before the breadboard, then use a regular breadboard for the rest of it. Just make a row of solder tabs, and leave 10-15mm at the end of vacant FR4 so you can have an overlap area to screw the perfboard to it. Probably fit within JL or OshPark's prototyping special pricing too. 

mnem
 

Yeah, I'll have to hit Akihabara to see if I can find some similar sized perfboard, then it'd be a simple matter of getting the edge card end made up. JLCPCB actually have an option to chamfer the edge of edge card connectors which I use semi-regularly along with the gold plating.

[BU508A]

A man who still hates the heat while living in England really has few options. Iceland, Greenland?

How about these?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Hebrides

[mnementh]

Ooh, I do like finding a remote control for a cheap or free TV. Makes the universe seem just a little more complete somehow.

Yup... when I did the Recycled Electronics trade, I spent as much time scouring the flea markets/yard sales/Goodwill for remotes as I did actually fixing VCRs, DVD/CD players, etc... 

Good to find that the skills developed in that world actually serve me in my waking life... 

That was meant to be! Nice one mnem.

A former colleague of mine creates chaos like that. When staying in a hotel recently he noticed that the remotes were the same as his Samsung which he lost months before. So he nicked it 

No he didn't. He replaced lost equipment through application of the Rules of Acquisition. 

mnem
 

[tonyalbus]

todays catch...






car also doing fine... not bad, i was hitting 140 at times ,still economic...
[ Specified attachment is not available ]

[bd139]

Whoa that's a winner. That Philips RCL bridge is worth it on it's own 

[mnementh]

When I order from Mouser now, the items are shipped from the USA even though they have office in High Wycombe, so unless they start stocking over here, thats going to get progressively worse for a while.

I have a better name for "brexit"........"broke it". 

Gonna be 32 degrees C + here for the next few days. I hate the heat. Any outside activity early then stay inside with the A/C. Damn the electric bill. 

Weird... We just had a week of 30°C+ weather, with heat index ~40°C. Been waking up feeling like I lost a alligator-fucking contest every morning... 

Today's the first day of supposedly 10° cooler weather. I feel semi-human for a change; not TOTALLY like a grumpy ol' dwagon. 

mnem

In this sort of weather my A/C runs more or less continuously on low. When I go to bed I'll put it on 2 hours timer. It will stay comfortable for the remainder of the night. I usually wake up before dawn so if I put it on at that time on low it will keep this place comfortable all day. If I wait until after the sun comes up then I have to put on blast mode to catch up which obviously consumes a LOT more power.

Yeah; the AC in this place is not adequate. One room closest to the furnace/AC has the thermostat; it is coolest but still can't manage 22°C (72°F). The rest of the house is 4-6°C hotter all the time; bedroom has been ~78°F every morning for days, and humidity like Houston. 

I know I'm old & fat & tore up from the floor up, so I'm more sensitive than most; but I still don't feel it is unreasonable to EXPECT 72°. 

mnem
 

[Cerebus]

A man who still hates the heat while living in England really has few options. Iceland, Greenland?

How about these?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Hebrides

1) Not that much further north.
2) Prevailing westerly winds make it wet, wet, wet.
3) Midges
4) If you're going to the Hebrides to technically stay in the UK, then you might as well go the whole hog and move to the Shetland Isles where the inhabitants can't quite work out whether they're Scots with a slight Norwegian accent, or Norwegians with a strong Scots accent.



I love how wildly optimistic Apple Maps is about how long it takes to drive there from London. 

[tonyalbus]

Whoa that's a winner. That Philips RCL bridge is worth it on it's own 

would not have thought that, the LCR does not look that special, thanks... now ik do,
i was looking at that KEITHLEY 199 DMM/Scanner.... that seems to look good.
And that green cable lenght meussure thing was for fun..
and what about those amazing big Multimeters...funny

total spend..  225,-     

[mnementh]

That TRIO Scope reminds me very much of a B&K I used in tech school. 

mnem
*hopelessly analog*

[bd139]

Anyone want a dead 1502 TDR for 69 quid? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254668339698

[mnementh]

Ughh, what is it with people and their desire to pillage perfectly good test equipment?   

https://www.reddit.com/r/electronics/comments/hyyegt/my_small_collection_of_old_instruments/fzh7x0j/?context=8&depth=9

My takeaway from that fucking intardnet hairball was this... 

mnem
Pants are highly overrated.

[tggzzz]

Anyone want a dead 1502 TDR for 69 quid? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254668339698

That seller had a different one for £95, in June. I made him an offer (below £69) and suggested photos of the rear, but he declined.

There are too many things that could be badly wrong with it; it isn't worth £69 to me.

[TERRA Operative]

todays catch...

(Attachment Link)

Oooh, I have one of those Trio scopes I gotta put back together to try to get working again.

How open are you to the idea of taking the cover off and snapping some pictures? 

[bd139]

Anyone want a dead 1502 TDR for 69 quid? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254668339698

That seller had a different one for £95, in June. I made him an offer (below £69) and suggested photos of the rear, but he declined.

There are too many things that could be badly wrong with it; it isn't worth £69 to me.

Good point. I did nab the 3478a off him. The thing was shown passing self test so I figured the worst things that could go wrong are covered.

To note if something is munted and not pictured, it's an instant paypal refund so it's low risk.

[tonyalbus]

todays catch...

(Attachment Link)

Oooh, I have one of those Trio scopes I gotta put back together to try to get working again.

How open are you to the idea of taking the cover off and snapping some pictures? 

oof thats conna be a problem     (see my text an the left with my picture) 
sure mate!
any specific angle, spots?

[tonyalbus]

Guess the proper meters agree..  i am very lucky in that sense with the meters i buy and there calibration.
only now i feel i bit silly i bought that owon 

[TERRA Operative]

todays catch...

(Attachment Link)

Oooh, I have one of those Trio scopes I gotta put back together to try to get working again.

How open are you to the idea of taking the cover off and snapping some pictures? 

oof thats conna be a problem     (see my text an the left with my picture) 
sure mate!

I see we share the same life philosophies.

Greatly appreciated. Any and all photos you can manage would be greatly appreciated, it's been a few years since I poked at my Trio (I just keep putting it off as I have no reference material for it), so as many photos as I can get would be awesome.

[Ice-Tea]

Remember that faulty Fluke 8842A I had for sale? Customer left feedback saying it was "better than described". So I contacted him, he says it just worked. So..

- Received: works.
- Shipped: doesn't work.
- Shipped back & checked: doesn't work.
- Shipped again as faulty: works.

Uhm, OK?

[bd139]

That means it'll stop working in a week again and is dodgy. Not your funeral now 

[25 CPS]

Good point. I did nab the 3478a off him. The thing was shown passing self test so I figured the worst things that could go wrong are covered.

About six weeks ago when I was making an instructional video for a non-profit group I help out, I discovered that the 3478A "SELF TEST OK" message on powerup can be misleading about the current measurement path.  I very rarely ever need to loop through a meter to take current measurements but in this case I needed to and discovered the protection fuse in the current jack was open and this isn't detected by the selftest sequence.  I'd never needed to use that meter for current measurement before so I hadn't discovered the problem.  I used the other 3478A on the bench instead and carried on with making the video.

Anyhow, this is something that needs to be checked manually on the 3478A as it turns out.

I got some replacement fuses a few days ago.  Maybe later this afternoon I'll venture down into the basement and put a replacement in and see if it's just the fuse or if there's more extensive damage to the meter hiding behind the everything's ok message.

[duckduck]

I've joined the "rack-mount HP test equipment" club. Got a 3455A for US$60 off of craigslist. Seems to be in good nick for something old enough to be both affordable and "Made in the USA": front and rear binding posts are not chipped or cracked, fan bearings aren't screaming, fan filter is all there, button lights are 100%, side straps look good. Most of the rest of my used test equipment looks like it has been dragged in a sack down the stairs of the Burj Kalifa. I don't have a good way to evaluate the accuracy of a 6 1/2 digit meter, but the first 4 digits match my Fluke 179 which is a good omen. Previous owner claimed that he hadn't been in it. I was going to clean it up inside but my Phillips #2 didn't fit the case screw right so now I've got a Pozidriv bit set on the way. I'm surprised that I've been able to ignore JIS and Pozidriv for this many decades I understand the fan on the 3455A is unobtainium. Display looks goofy in the picture due to scan-rate mismatch but it's bright and all digits light up with human persistence of vision enabled. Looks like I can't put off building my bench shelf anymore.

[TERRA Operative]

Good point. I did nab the 3478a off him. The thing was shown passing self test so I figured the worst things that could go wrong are covered.

About six weeks ago when I was making an instructional video for a non-profit group I help out, I discovered that the 3478A "SELF TEST OK" message on powerup can be misleading about the current measurement path.  I very rarely ever need to loop through a meter to take current measurements but in this case I needed to and discovered the protection fuse in the current jack was open and this isn't detected by the selftest sequence.  I'd never needed to use that meter for current measurement before so I hadn't discovered the problem.  I used the other 3478A on the bench instead and carried on with making the video.

Anyhow, this is something that needs to be checked manually on the 3478A as it turns out.

I got some replacement fuses a few days ago.  Maybe later this afternoon I'll venture down into the basement and put a replacement in and see if it's just the fuse or if there's more extensive damage to the meter hiding behind the everything's ok message.

I got one that passes self test but won't read anything on the AC ranges, DC works fine.

I think 99% it's the hybrid module, so when I get it back from my brother, I'tt swap the known good module from my second unit to test.
I'm hoping it is actually something simple like the relays, but I'm not holding my breath.

[TERRA Operative]

I've joined the "rack-mount HP test equipment" club. Got a 3455A for US$60 off of craigslist. Seems to be in good nick for something old enough to be both affordable and "Made in the USA": front and rear binding posts are not chipped or cracked, fan bearings aren't screaming, fan filter is all there, button lights are 100%, side straps look good. Most of the rest of my used test equipment looks like it has been dragged in a sack down the stairs of the Burj Kalifa. I don't have a good way to evaluate the accuracy of a 6 1/2 digit meter, but the first 4 digits match my Fluke 179 which is a good omen. Previous owner claimed that he hadn't been in it. I was going to clean it up inside but my Phillips #2 didn't fit the case screw right so now I've got a Pozidriv bit set on the way. I'm surprised that I've been able to ignore JIS and Pozidriv for this many decades I understand the fan on the 3455A is unobtainium. Display looks goofy in the picture due to scan-rate mismatch but it's bright and all digits light up with human persistence of vision enabled. Looks like I can't put off building my bench shelf anymore.

If the fan is a brushless design with the external driver PCB like the HP 4276A LCZ meter, it can probably be swapped with a standard 12v fan running from the supply to the driver PCB.
Check my youtube channel for the 4276A video and you'll see what I did and if the fan is the same type.

[BU508A]

A man who still hates the heat while living in England really has few options. Iceland, Greenland?

How about these?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Hebrides

1) Not that much further north.
2) Prevailing westerly winds make it wet, wet, wet.
3) Midges
4) If you're going to the Hebrides to technically stay in the UK, then you might as well go the whole hog and move to the Shetland Isles where the inhabitants can't quite work out whether they're Scots with a slight Norwegian accent, or Norwegians with a strong Scots accent.

(Attachment Link)

I love how wildly optimistic Apple Maps is about how long it takes to drive there from London. 

Ok, point 3) on your list is the killer for me. I hate midges! From the deepest bottom of my heart, I hate them.